Canada's 145th Birthday Parade Downtown Vancouver 2012

So, I, along with three other Whitecaps volunteers were involved in the Canada Day Parade held in downtown Vancouver at 7pm in the evening.  This was the Official Whitecaps car.  It was filled with 500 posters and I was given a bag of over 1000 WC tattoos.  This was my first time ever taking part in a parade and it was a pretty awesome experience.  I can now cross it off my bucket-list!

When I got there, I saw that the drummers had already been there as their drums were set up along with a table and and some chairs.  But I was the only person there.  Then along came David.  One of the members of my Club Ambassadors team.  So we sat and waited together for the Whitecaps to arrive.  Or anyone for that matter.  We got hungry so we decided to look around a bit for the "goodies" we were promised would be there.  Of course it was right across from our check-in tent.  On the way there, we ran into the other volunteer and my Co-Team Leader, Ashley.  So the three of us returned to the WC muster station to wait for our Team to arrive. 

So, once the drummers all gathered and the team arrived with the car, all we had to do was wait for Spike, the Whitecaps mascot.  When he finally did show up, it got very interesting at our Muster Station.  The Bellydancing team pulled up behind us and our drummers started drumming.  Spike hopped up on top of the car and was busy taking pics with people as they had all started to line up!  

When he was done with that, he then hopped off the car and went over to belly dancers and they started to show him some of their moves.  To which, Spike, tried to mimic them and it suddenly became a dance off!  As we were waiting for the parade to start moving, two of the belly dancers saw Spike dancing to the dummers on the sidewalk and decided they would come over.  I told them to join him and show him a few moves.  Which they did.  He was schooled not once, but twice! Check it out!

Burnaby North High School was stationed ahead of us and were on the road practicing an excellent rendition of Thriller, by Michael Jackson.  It was pretty awesome.  They even had a guy on a very large white tuba!

This was a float across the street from us.  It was the Philippine float but we're not sure why it was called the World Peace float.  We asked the Parade Marshall co-coordinator and she had no idea either or why there was a pink princess on it.

Anyways, once the parade started, we were on our way, heading down Alberni and then rounded the corner on Nicola and then onto W.Georgia.  Because the sun had managed to shine warm and bright today, there were more people out than we had anticipated.  We ran out of posters about half way up W. Georgia and the tattoos were pretty popular.  But we ran out of those by the time we got to Burrard.  Its unfortunate but that's just how things go sometimes.  Spike was very popular in the parade.  All the kids loved him and he was his most fun and crazy self.  Its hard not to like him.  Once we rounded the corner on Hornby, we were done.  The parade was a success and we all had a great time.  David and I ended up running a little bit as our car and drummers had marched on without us.  We never realized how much time it takes to give out tattoos.  Oh well....it was great fun.  

So, folks, these were the major events that happened in June and July so far.  I will try to keep you updated more frequently as I do have a Lions game coming up on Friday.  Hope you enjoyed the videos and pics from today.  I could only take them from our Muster Station for obvious reasons.  But at least I took them!  Hope everyone had a great Canada Day!

BC Place Community Open House

BC Place held an open house this weekend for the community to come out and see what was new with the stadium.  It also gave fans a chance to meet their residents. The BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.  Both teams put on a fun interactive session and it also allowed fans to walk on the field and walk under the dome as it opened up just as it looks in the picture shown above.

I started my day off with a coffee and bagel at the local Tim Hortons on Keefer and Abbot.  I ran into a girl dressed in a Whitecaps Jacket and shirt.  So I asked her if she was with Whitecaps.  Turned out she worked in the merchandise store and was working that day at the stadium.  So I introduced myself as a Whitecaps Team Leader.  She said I looked familiar to her and she had seen me around.  We decided to walk back to the stadium together.  At 11:30am this morning, I walked up to Gate A to lineup to be among the first 100 people to get Bob Lenarduzzi's book, Bob Lenarduzzi: A Canadian Soccer Story.  The DJ was playing music on the plaza and the felions came and did their dance routines to entertain the crowd as they waited for the doors to open.  Once the doors were open, everyone rushed in and was handed a copy of Bob's book.  We were then handed a BC Place Newsletter highlighting all the things to see and do while you were there.  I followed the herd of people into the suite area where they had opened up a few of them so people could go and see what they looked like.

The path that was laid out for everyone led to the ramp decending to the 2nd level.  Once on the second level, you could make your way down to the field where all the activities were set up.

 
The Vancouver Whitecaps were set up on the left side of the field and the Lions were on the right.  I made my way down and was caught in the middle of the felions doing a dance routine.

I then started to look around to see where a good place would be to start exploring.  I spotted a tent with Bob Lenarduzzi signing autographs for his book so I decided I would start there.  I took my book and stood in line for 15 mins before I got up to him and he signed my book for me.  He said he knew that I worked for him and he made it out to me.

I left his tent and wandered off towards the two long lineups on the right side of the field.  Travis Lulay and Akeem Foster were busy giving autographs in one line and the other was for taking a picture with the Grey Cup.  You were not allowed to pick up the Cup though like we were able to after they won it.  So I didn't bother getting in that lineup.

 Instead I decided I just wanted a pic with Lulay and Foster.  Once that was done, I headed towards the football lineup and got myself a miniature football and threw it thru a small hole in the cardboard cutout as I was directed.  I got a lot of cheers for it from the crowd.

From there I moved on and went for a tour of the dressing rooms.  Although I have been in there before for other events, I have never seen it with the Whitecaps and BC Lions equipment in the room.  So I went out the West Airlock tunnel and headed first for the Lions dressing room.

Compared to the their training facility locker rooms in Surrey, this was crazy neat. I'm sure it was spruced up for the photo ops.  I then headed past their lounge and ice bath/massage areas into the connecting Whitecaps dressing room.

This room held a different vibe than the Lions dressing room.  The room lights were turned off and only the spotlight in each of their stalls were lit to give this dramatic ambiance.  I was also greeted by my Whitecaps staff (family) who know me and was called a "traitor" for wearing a Lions jersey instead of representing the 'Caps.  I told them I came as a fan today.  Nothing more. When they were done teasing me, I moved onto the next part of the tour.  The path then led to onto the "ring road" inside the stadium that took me right back out an entrance to the field.  I walked back onto the field and decided I would take a break and sit in the stands for a little bit and take it all in while I waited for my friend and her daughter to arrive.

Here the Whitecaps had a giant "scarf" that people could sign to show support for the team.

A Whitecaps player kicks the ball around with a future Whitecaps player.

My friend and her daughter showed up and so we headed back down on the field and I got them all caught up on what activities were happening and what they might be interested in doing.  The first thing we did was line up to meet Lulay and Foster but by the time we got close to them, their time was up and the next two players were to come and take over the autograph table.  Paris Jackson and JR LaRose.  Turns out JR LaRose was the only one available as Paris had just texted the Lions marketing  person when she was talking to us and informed her that he was stuck in traffic and will be late.  So while people waited Lulay came back out and went thru the lineup to give autographs until the other two were set up.  Rose was the only one to come out but was later joined by Foster until Paris was able to make his way to the stadium.

I took my friend and her daughter back thru the dressing rooms and back out onto the field and looked around a bit more.  Spike, the Whitecaps mascot was hanging around so we took pics with him.

 This is Spike pretending his heart is thumping out of his chest. Crazy Kingfisher.

We looked around a bit more and then headed back up to the concourse where the BC Hall of Fame was giving away free sample bags of Popchips.  I got the Sour Cream and Onion bag and they were pretty good.  My friend's daughter wanted to buy something from the Whitecaps merchandise store so she got herself a nice hat.  We then headed back up the ramp and out the doors to the plaza so we could make our way back towards skytrain to go home.  All in all, we all had a great time and it was definitely a fun experience.  Sometimes its just nice to be a fan.